THE TELEPHONE
CITY CRYSTAL
B R A N T F O R D L A P I D A RY & M I N E R A L S O C I E T Y
FEBRUARY 2016
Volume 62 Issue 1
Inside this issue:
FEBRURARY PROGRAM & 2
CLUB NEWS
UPCOMING EVENTS AND
FIELDTRIPS
3
TIMMINS GOLD MINES
4
WHAT IS QUARTZITE?
5
MINERAL OF THE MONTH 6
& QUARTZITE CONT’D
CARAT, KARAT OR CARROT & SHOP HINTS
7
2015 EXECUTIVE
8
BOOK REVIEW
Brian Atkinson receives thanks from President John Moons for our January program (Geology of
Ontario) . Brian guided the members on a geological tour of Ontario including the limestone basin
(500 million years), the Canadian shield (2.7billion) a precambrian igneous and high grade metamorphic rock and the greenstone belt and explored mines in these areas.
FUTURE 2016 CLUB PROGRAMS: As newsletter editor it is a real advantage to have
a list of future general meeting programs in advance. Here are the upcoming topics.
MARCH: BEACH GLASS
APRIL: BOB O’DONNELL: FOSSILS
Mailing address: 1 Sherwood Drive, Brantford, Ont. N3T 1N3 Website: www.brantfordlapidarymineral.ca
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THE TELEPHONE CITY CRYSTAL
GENERAL MEETING:
Date: Friday FEBRUARY 19, 2016 Time: 7:30 PM
Where: TB Costain/SC Johnson Community Center, 16 Morrell St.
Brantford, Ont.
Program: David Leng : “The Science of Exploration.”
David is a professional geologist with more than 17 years of mining industry experience who joined
RGCI in September 2014 as President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to founding RGCI, David
held technical roles involving geochemical exploration, project evaluation and corporate development
with several reporting issuers. David’s professional expertise includes geochemistry, QA-QC and project management gained from his work experience with gold, platinum group metal and uranium projects. Within the last few years, David’s career moved into financial sector where he was an associate
mining analyst for a boutique investment firm. His research focus was gold deposits throughout West
Africa. David graduated from McMaster university degree with an honours degree in geology, is a
professional geologist with the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario and is a member of
APGO Council.
CLUB INFO
Treasurer: Please come prepared to pay your 2016 membership fees, $15.00
per single and $18.00 per family, cash or cheque is fine.
THIS IS YOUR LAST ISSUE OF THE NEWSLETTER IF YOU HAVE NOT PAID
YOUR 2016 MEMBERSHIP.
Field Trips: See page 3 for a list of fieldtrips in association with the Niagara
club. We would thank their club for allowing club members to be part of these
trips.
Program: David Leng— “The Science of Exploration”
From your Editor: I will be bringing free calendars to the meeting courtesy of the Calendar Club.
Workshop: Our workshop is open Wednesdays from 1:00 to 4:00 pm and Sundays from 12-2pm.
2016 Show: Carrie Gage is reminding members to consider cookie, muffin, or donut donations for our
show. Also Darren would appreciate silent auction lists as soon as possible.
The club has a number of showcases to lend to members for a display at our show. Remember this a
club show and mineral or jewellery displays are most welcome. These displays help promote our club
and hobby to the public. Cases are available at the club workshop on 19 Helen St. or contact an executive member for details.
From Crosbie’s Dictionary of Riddles: (Thanks again Doug M.) Why is a jeweller like a screeching singer?... Because
he pierces ears. What did the thirsty jeweller say?... I could lapidary.
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THE TELEPHONE CITY CRYSTAL
2016 GEM AND MINERAL SHOWS and EVENTS
March 5-6 2016: Kawartha Rock & Fossil Club presents the 23rd Annual Peterborough Gem, Mineral& Fossil
Show, 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday and Sunday, Evinrude Centre, 911 Monaghan Road. Admission $4, children under
12 free. From Highway 115 at Peterborough, take the Parkway to Lansdowne St., then east 4 blocks to Monaghan
Rd., then north 1 block. Or travel west on Highway 7 (Lansdowne St.), into Peterborough, turn right at the 6th traffic light onto Monaghan Rd., then north 1 block. For more information, visit www.rockandfossil.com .
April 2-3 2016: 44th Annual Brantford Gem and Mineral Show, 10 AM to 5 PM both days,
Paris Fairgrounds, 139 Silver Street, Paris, Ontario. For more information visit http://
www.brantfordlapidarymineral.ca , or contact show chair Nathan Etherington: Phone: (519)
442-3777, Email: [email protected] .
April 14-17 2016: 43rd Annual Rochester Mineralogical Symposium, 1 PM Thursday to 2 PM
Sunday, Radisson Hotel Rochester Airport, 175 Jefferson Rd., Rochester, NY, 14623. Dealers, talks, exhibits. For
more info, visit http://www.rasny.org/minsymp/ .
May 7 2016: Kitchener-Waterloo Gem and Mineral Club Annual Show and Sale. Our club’s annual event, held at
the Waterloo Community Arts Centre, 25 Regina St. S., in Waterloo, from 10 AM to 5 PM. June 11 2016: 50th Anniversary Niagara Peninsula Geological Society Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show and Sale, 10 AM to 5 PM at Heartland Forest, 8215 Heartland Forest Rd, Niagara Falls, Ontario.
FIELDTRIPS: Open Letter to CCFMS clubs
NPGS Field Trip Schedule, 2016
Field Trip dates may be changed dependent upon working conditions at quarries, bad weather, and if quarry/mine
owners are unable to accommodate us, etc.
So, please, check for confirmed dates, updates, and/or changes in rules, etc (look for them in the NPGS Pink Dolomite newsletter, our website, and on our Facebook page). We’ve also become quite avid about posting various pictures of our field trips on our Facebook page, so please take a look - lots and lots and lots of pictures and megafun!
What the buttons mean:
maps
what you’ll find
scholarly articles & government info links
pic-
tures
additional instructions / procedures (such as leaving times, paying for gas, quarry rules, etc)
Trip
Leader/Organizer email link. Not all of the buttons are active yet - and so if you don’t get a response, please don’t
be surprised. And so thanks for your patience as they do become active - slowly but surely. Also if anyone has
anything they would like to contribute, please don’t hesitate.
Planned for 2016:
Spring:
Date: Saturday, April 30th, 2016
Location: Hungry Hollow Quarry, Ausable River, near Arkona
kid-friendly Hamilton Group - Onondaga Escarpment fossils
Visits are by permission only - you will need to sign up “live” a minimum of 1 month in advance
plus you must be a currently paid-up member of a CCFMS club.
Names and signatures are then submitted to the Hungry Hollow Quarry owners - who will then give
permission. Once permission is given (no guarantees that it will be), then the field trip will be a go.
Date: Saturday, May 7th, 2016
(Jim Glen, Trip Leader)
Location: Nelson Aggregates (Lincoln) Quarry, Beamsville
CCFMS trip Lockport Group-Eramosa, Goat Island, & Gasport, Silurian (Niagara Escarpment) minerals and fossils
Working quarry & strict rules - you will sign/report in - as well as out - at the quarry gate with the Trip Leader.
There will also be a safety talk; and you will require full safety gear. ( Link to http://www.ccfms.ca/clubs/NPGS/
trips.htm for colour coding and complete 2016 schedule. )
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THE TELEPHONE CITY CRYSTAL
TIMMINS MINES (FROM OUR JANUARY PROGRAM BY
BRIAN ATKINSON P.GEO)
Kidd Mine is an underground base metal mine in the city of Timmins, Ontario. It is
owned and operated by Xstrata Copper, following the August 2006 takeover of Falconbridge Ltd.Ore from the Kidd mine was processed at the Kidd Metallurgical Site,
located 27 km (17 mi) southeast of the mine. The ore is now shipped to Quebec for
processing. Kidd Mine is the world's deepest copper/zinc mine.
Dome Mine is situated in the City of Timmins, Ontario, Canada; now known as part of GoldCorp-Porcupine Gold Mines. The original Dome Mine (Tisdale Township) was still operating
as of April 2012, its life is slowly coming to an end as the ore is dwindling and quickly becoming exhausted. An enormous discontinued open pit (Super Pit), huge man-made mountain of
waste rock and working mill are now in place at the location. At one time a community of approximately 60 houses owned by Dome Mines and leased to miners with families existed. This
was the community of Dome.
The Hollinger Gold Mine was founded by Benny Hollinger in Timmins, Ontario, and
in 1910 the company was incorporated by Noah Timmins and partners. The main Hollinger Mine operated from 1910 until 1968. During that period 65,778,234 tons were
milled, producing 19,327,691 ounces of gold, indicating an overall grade of 0.29. The
value of the gold produced is placed at $564.7 million.
Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines was later acquired by Canadian tycoon E. P. Taylor's Argus Corporation. Argus was later acquired by Conrad Black in 1978 and it
would become today's Hollinger Incorporated.
The McIntyre mine is an abandoned underground gold mine in Schumacher, Ontario, which has earned a place in Canadian mining history as one of the nation's
most important mines. Its iconic head frame, located near downtown Timmins, has
come to represent the entire Porcupine Gold Rush. The McIntyre also yielded a
considerable amount of copper over its life.
There has been an extensive degree of rehabilitation and exploration work performed in and around the old McIntyre Mine property in recent years, and the Porcupine Joint Venture has yet to decide whether or not to continue spending hundreds of millions of dollars on mining out the property or continuing with a closure plan (2007).
SHOP HINT: Don't be satisfied with scratches in your cabochon. Go back to the sanding
wheel again. When stone is properly polished, you can read the reflection from the bottom
of an overhead light bulb in the high polish of your stone. To work out the flat spot in cab,
mark across the stone with aluminum pencil. When properly ground and shaped, you will
have erased the cross and flat spot .
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WHAT IS QUARTZITE?
Quartzite is a nonfoliated metamorphic rock composed almost entirely
of quartz. It forms when a quartz-richsandstone, is altered by the heat,
pressure, and chemical activity of metamorphism. These conditions recrystallize the sand grains and the silica cement that binds them together.
The result is a network of interlocking quartz grains of incredible
strength. The interlocking crystalline structure of quartzite makes it a
hard, tough, durable rock. It is so tough that it breaks through the
quartz grains rather than breaking along the boundaries between them.
This is a characteristic that separates true quartzite from sandstone.
Physical Properties of Quartzite
Quartzite is usually white to gray in color. Some rock units, stained by
iron can be pink, red or purple. Other impurities can cause quartzite to be yellow, orange, brown, green or blue.
The quartz content of quartzite gives it a hardness of about seven on the Mohs Hardness Scale. Its extreme toughness
made it a favorite rock for use as an impact tool by early people. Its conchoidal fracture allowed it to be shaped into large
cutting tools such as ax heads and scrapers. Its coarse texture made it less suitable for producing tools with fine edges
such as knife blades and projectile points.
Where Does Quartzite Form?
Most quartzite forms during mountain-building events at convergent plate boundaries. There sandstone is metamorphosed into quartzite while deeply buried. Compressional forces at the plate boundary fold and fault the rocks and
thicken the crust into a mountain range. Quartzite is an important rock type in folded mountain ranges throughout the
world.
Quartzite as a Ridge-Former
Quartzite is one of the most physically durable and chemically resistant rocks found at Earth's surface. When the mountain ranges are worn down by weathering and erosion, less resistant and less durable rocks are destroyed, but the quartzite remains. This is why quartzite is so often the rock found at the crests of mountain ranges and covering their flanks as a
litter of scree.
Quartzite is also a poor soil-former. Unlike feldspars which break down to form clay minerals, the weathering debris of
quartzite is quartz. It is therefore not a rock type that contributes well to soil formation. For that reason it is often found
as exposed bedrock with little or no soil cover.
How the Name "Quartzite" Is Used
Geologists have used the name "quartzite" in a few different ways, each with a slightly different meaning. Today most
geologists who use the word "quartzite" are referring to rocks that they believe are metamorphic and composed almost
entirely of quartz.
A few geologists use the word "quartzite" for sedimentary rocks that have an exceptionally high quartz content. This usage is falling out of favor but remains in older textbooks and other older publications. The name "quartz arenite" is a
more appropriate and less confusing name for these rocks.
It is often difficult or impossible to differentiate quartz arenite from quartzite. The transition of sandstone into quartzite
is a gradual process. A single rock unit such as the Tuscarora Sandstone might fully fit the definition of quartzite in some
parts of its extent and be better called "sandstone" in other areas. Between these areas the names "quartzite" and
"sandstone" are used inconsistently and often guided by habit. It is often called "quartzite" when rock units above and
below it are clearly sedimentary. This contributes to the inconsistency in the ways that geologists use the word
"quartzite."
Uses of Quartzite
Quartzite has a diversity of uses in construction, manufacturing, architecture, and decorative arts. Although its properties
are superior to many currently-used materials its consumption has always been low for various reasons. The uses of
quartzite and some reasons that it is avoided are summarized on page 6.
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Mineral of the Month: Glauberite
THE TELEPHONE CITY CRYSTAL
Glauberite is a monoclinic sodium calcium sulfate mineral with the formula Na2Ca(SO4)2
It was first described in 1808 for material from the El Castellar Mine, Villarrubia de Santiago,Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It was named for the extracted Glauber's salts after
the Germanalchemist Johann Rudolf Glauber (1604–1668).
Glauberite often forms in continental and marine evaporite deposits, but may also form
from hydrothermal deposits, as mineral sublimates deposited near fumaroles, in amygdules in basalt, and in nitrate deposits in arid climates. It occurs associated with halite,
polyhalite, anhydrite,gypsum, thenardite, mirabilite, sassolite and blodite.
Because of its solubility, glauberite is often dissolved away from the crystal matrix leaving a distinctly shaped hollow cast.
Its mineral composition is readily altered into other minerals aspseudomorphs. Gypsum pseudomorphs are common due
to increased humidity.
Glauberite, its cast impressions, and its pseudomorphed crystals are often easily recognizable due to its common crystal
twinning, and crystal habit displayed by uniquely shaped flattened, often seeming rhombohedral, large individual 'floater
crystals'. (Wikipedia)
(Cont’d from page 5) Architectural Use
In architecture, marble and granite have been the favorite materials for thousands of years. Quartzite, with a Mohs hardness of seven along with greater toughness is superior to both in many uses. It stands up better to abrasion in stair treads,
floor tiles, and countertops. It is more resistant to most chemicals and environmental conditions. It is available in a range of
neutral colors that many people prefer. The use of quartzite in these uses is growing slowly as more people learn about it.
Construction Use
Quartzite is an extremely durable crushed stone that is suitable for use in the most demanding applications. Its soundness
and abrasion resistance are superior to most other materials.
Unfortunately, the same durability that makes quartzite a superior construction material also limits its use. Its hardness
and toughness cause heavy wear on crushers, screens, truck beds, cutting tools, loaders, tires, tracks, drill bits, and other
equipment. As a result, the use of quartzite is mainly limited to geographic areas where other aggregates are not available.
Manufacturing Use
Quartzite is valued as a raw material because of its high silica content. A few unusual deposits have a silica content of over
98%. These are mined and used to manufacture glass, ferrosilicon, manganese ferrosilicon, silicon metal, silicon carbide
and other materials.
Decorative Use
Quartzite can be a very attractive stone when it is colored by inclusions. Inclusions of fuchsite (a green chromium-rich variety of muscovite mica) can give quartzite a pleasing green color. If the quartzite is semitransparent to translucent the flat
flakes of mica can reflect light to produce a glittering luster known as aventurescence.
Material that displays this property is known as "aventurine", a popular material used to produce beads, cabochons, tumbled stones, and small ornaments. Aventurine can be pink or red when stained with iron. Included dumortierite produces a
blue color. Other inclusions produce white, gray, orange or yellow aventurine.(Geology.com)
A Dictionary for Rockhounds: AGATE– An opening in the fence/ ARCHAEOLOGIST– A person whose career lies in
ruins/ Archaeology– Digging around to find other civilizations to blame ours on/ INTRUSIVE ROCK– Loud music
from neighbours stereo/ MICROMOUNT– A very small horse/ QUARTZ– Two pints of rock/ CORAL– A place to
keep seahorses/ FIELD TRIP– An impossible trek to an inaccessible place for non-existent specimens./ FOSSIL–
What kids think I am./ GARNET– What you say when a rock drops on your foot. / UNCLASSIFIED– What my fossils are./ WONDERSTONE—When unloading the car after a field trip a rockhound wonders why he brought this one
home Via the Rock vein of the 70s submitted by Gary B. (who keeps reminding me how warm it is in Arizona )
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Friendship is like a book. It takes seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.
Old friends are gold! New friends are diamond! If you get a diamond, don’t forget the gold! Because to hold a diamond, you always need a base of gold!
Prayer is not a “spare wheel” that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a “steering wheel” that directs the right
path throughout. (internet)
CARROT, CARAT OR KARAT?
The term carat comes from the middle French word carat, which came from the Italian carato, which came from the
Arabic qirat, which came from the Greek keration which meant carob seed. It is a unit of weight equal to 200 mg, 1/5
of a gram. (It can be abbreviated with ct.) It can be divided into 100 points, which are then equal to 2 milligrams each.
Thus a 10 carat 15 point stone weighs in at (10x200mg) + (15x 2mg) or 2030 mg. (2.03 gm) Points are often used in the
diamond industry to demark the weight of very small stones ... “the diamond was a 10 point melee piece.” (or 1/10 of a
carat) The karat (but sometimes also written as carat) is the purity of a metal. It is based on 24 parts making the
whole. Thus 24 kt gold is pure 100% gold.
Karat is a variant of the word carat, but the weird numbering comes from the Roman Constantine who minted a gold
coin called the solidus. It was 1/72 of a libra, which we all know was a pound of Roman gold and was equal to 24 siliqua. This of course was equal to 1/1728 of a libra, which defined precisely the weight of a karat. (Wasn’t that easy?)
Gold content by weight ... 24 kt = 100%, 18 kt = 75%, 14 kt = 58.3% and 10 kt = 41.7%
And the last, carrot, is from the Latin carote, from the Greek karotov, from the Indo-European ker- (meaning horn).
It is a vegetable where the taproot is the portion consumed. The first carrots were red or yellow, and it was not until
reaching the Netherlands (circa 1600) that the carrot developed its now common color of orange. So ...carrot=an item,
carat=a weight, and karat=a volume. (Goldrush Ledger 12/13)
SHOP TIPS & Lapidary Hints.
To keep the crystal centers of geodes free from grit when flat lapping, place paper towels in the deep bottom of the
cavity. Then fill the cracks with a bar of soap and rub the soap bar onto the crystals; smooth them down with a damp
finger. Small holes can also be filled with the soap. They will brush out when finished. (Original source unknown, The
Ammonite 10/12 via Breccia, 2/98.
Fix the Pits: Working with dark moss agate, like the black Montana variety, small pits may sometimes appear on the
finished, polished product. The light colored polishing powders, such as tin oxide and cerium oxide, often pack into
these pits, making removal difficult, and white spots surely distract from the stone’s appearance. Try rubbing a small
bit of black India ink into spotted areas, and then try to rub off the ink. The white spots will disappear. (Chips &
Tips, date unknown, The Ammonite 10/12 via Rockhound Rambling, 9/2008)
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THE TELEPHONE CITY CRYSTAL
(2015) EXECUTIVE:
PRESIDENT: JOHN MOONS
519-752-9756
[email protected]
VICE PRESIDENT: BOB PARRY
519-448-1236
[email protected]
TREASURER: BETTY PARRY
519-448-1236
[email protected]
SECRETARY: JOAN CAMPBELL
519-752-9756
[email protected]
SHOW CHAIR 2016: NATHAN ETHERINGTON
519-442-3777
[email protected]
NEWSLETTER EDITOR: ROGER CAMPBELL
519-442-6542
[email protected]
SOCIAL: CARRIE GAGE
519-758-8426
[email protected]
FIELD TRIPS: K. LAHAY
519-725-4678
[email protected]
CCFMS REP.: BABS KISIEL-PENNELL
519-751-3247
[email protected]
PROGRAM:
LIBRARIAN:
DAWN GAGE
WORKSHOP CHAIR PERSON : ROBERT WHITING 905-627-1082
[email protected]
BUILDING AND WORKSHOP ADMINISTRATOR: TERRY FRIZZEL
[email protected]
N.B. Our workshop is open on Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. The 2015 Lapidary Workshop Chairperson is Robert Whiting 905-627-1082 or email:[email protected]
BOOK REVIEW BY JOHN MOONS
Title: Molecules The Elements and the Architecture of Everything
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
Author: Theodore Gray
ISBN-13:78-1-57912-971-2
Year Published: 2014 Language: English Size: 240 pages, hardcover, 26cm by 26cm
Price: I paid $ 15.- for it in St. Catharines
Theodore Gray has also written The Elements and many of you will be familiar with the calendars that are made
with information from that book. This book is written in the same style. It is in full colour and the background colour is black. I guess that about one quarter to one third of the pages is taken up by text and rest is colour pictures.
This book is all about chemistry. He shows how all the atoms are coming together to form molecules. He really
writes about a lot of different things and what is in them. From all the different chemicals that make up Asparagus
to ropes, perfumes, oils, wood, drugs, rocks and minerals. He explains why things have a colour and why we can
smell them. The book is very easy to read even if you are not much into chemistry. You really can learn a lot about
the world around you. I am very happy to have this book.
We do not have it our library.
Mailing address: 1 Sherwood Drive, Brantford, Ont. N3T 1N3
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Website: www.brantfordlapidarymineral.ca